Recently, I wrote a piece on Cuepoint about how :30 second songs might be just around the corner because streaming services pay artists after :30 seconds. Well. About a week passed. There’s a new site called Eternify that claims it gets artists paid by streaming only the :30 needed in order to count as a “stream.” The future, kids. I don’t get it either. So let’s have some fun. The link I’m not-so-strangely interested in: http://eternify.it/#Mike-Errico Technically, all you do is click on a piece of mine and it will stream :30 clips. I’ve never done something so easy in the entire Internet. Here’s the deal: You work with me, I’ll make stuff for you. If you are leaving work/stepping away from your computer for the evening, or if you don’t listen to music while you work, you can click on it, then simply hit mute and go about your day/evening. If that’s too intrusive, you can click on it before you step away from your computer for the day, and just let it run. You can, it appears, even open multiple tabs and let them run simultaneously. (I tried it. Seems like it works.) Would you rather get another artist paid, too? Not a problem — just open a tab and stream that artist, too. It also gives a running total, so you can keep track of your contribution by taking a screen grab. Like so: YOUR EXCELLENT QUESTIONS PROBABLY ARE: “Mike: What will you do with the money, if it arrives?” I’ll make more of the stuff you (hopefully) already like. Same as if you subscribed to a Kickstarter or Patreon campaign, except...

[Every other week, I’m releasing a new story that comes with music, playlists, podcasts, and photos. The whole archive is being collected right here. Check it out, and if you liked it, I’d appreciate it if you’d hit the RECOMMEND button at the bottom to let others know about it. (It’s just like a Facebook like.)] Gigging for God: My Time in the Church Folk Group I was an “at-risk” tween rock guitarist, so my parents sent me to a halfway house to play Dylan songs for God. Here’s how it...

This is not about copyright infringement. It’s about how not to get effed by your own entertainment lawyer. I hope my artist friends will check it out, and I hope it helps. What the “Blurred Lines” Lawyer Taught All Artists For a minute, forget about the “Blurred Lines” verdict, the lyrics and whether or not you love Marvin Gaye. The New York Times just ran a profile on Richard S. Busch, the lawyer who won the $7.4 million case for the Gaye estate. In explaining how he did it, Busch says something I hope all artists caught: “By being on the outside,” he said, “everyone who hires me knows that they get 100 percent of my loyalty.” Why is that noteworthy? Because there’s an assumption that you can hire an entertainment attorney — that’s the guy on your side, remember — and not get 100 percent of his/her loyalty. It’s pretty hard to win a legal battle with a lawyer who might not be riding with you. You’d think loyalty was a given, but, as Busch casually explains it, that’s not the case. Read on at Cuepoint. What the “Blurred Lines” Lawyer Taught All...

Read Appraising Amanda Palmer’s New Patreon Campaign on Cuepoint. Amanda Palmer is good people. No, she’s great people. She came to a songwriting class I taught at Yale, and opened her heart, mind and soul to my students. She tweeted to her fanbase and for one slice of a second, we trended on Twitter. (I did not get the screengrab. Dammit.) Now she’s got a Patreon campaign, and I think the experiment will prove fruitful for her. As I write, she’s up to $20k per piece of content after just one day. So. Fruitful. In short: Meet the future of the tip jar. Appraising Amanda Palmer’s New Patreon...

Every other week, I’m releasing a new story that comes with music, playlists, podcasts, and photos. I call it “The Solo Show.” NEW: “Setlist for a Drunk Birthday Girl“ In honor of the cold snap that has gripped much of the country, here is “Miracle on Ice,” if the “ice” were a barroom floor in Indianapolis and the “miracle” were a drunk birthday girl who *really loves* AC/DC. BONUS: Download a live version of this story on the Mike Errico Podcast (free) Indiana had been battered with a cold front that had cleared the roads of most everyone but emergency vehicles and me. The weather drove sideways into rows of houses along I-80 and scratched against my windshield like coarse sand. I had a gig at a club called Birdy’s, and had driven across two states, stopping only for peanuts and gas… read on… Setlist for a Drunk Birthday...

My experience auditioning for a record label. Dedicated to anyone who has done something weird. I reminded myself that there was no one to ask for permission. I could play solo, and write the words I needed to say. I could record, live tight, and strip my life to its essence, with its familiar silence and the weight of everything being exactly where I left it. I could go on without anyone, but I didn’t want to. What I wanted was a team. Everyone wants a team. Even dogs group together in the wild. https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-sometimes-platinum-window-43a71a2c24e8 This is the latest from “The Solo Show,” my ongoing collection of essays, playlists and stories. Check out the growing library and follow along here: https://medium.com/@mikeerrico The Sometimes Platinum...